Uncovering the Metabolic Footprint of New Psychoactive Substances by Metabolomics: A Systematic Review
New psychoactive substances (NPSs) emerged in the 2000s as legal alternatives to illicit drugs and quickly became a huge public health threat due to their easy accessibility online, limited information, and misleading labels. Synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones are the most reported grou...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Molecules |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/30/2/290 |
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| author | Ana Sofia Almeida Paula Guedes de Pinho Fernando Remião Carla Fernandes |
| author_facet | Ana Sofia Almeida Paula Guedes de Pinho Fernando Remião Carla Fernandes |
| author_sort | Ana Sofia Almeida |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | New psychoactive substances (NPSs) emerged in the 2000s as legal alternatives to illicit drugs and quickly became a huge public health threat due to their easy accessibility online, limited information, and misleading labels. Synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones are the most reported groups of NPSs. Despite NPSs being widely studied, due to their structural diversity and the constant emergence of novel compounds with unknown properties, the development of new techniques is required to clarify their mode of action and evaluate their toxicological effects. Metabolomics has been a useful tool to evaluate the metabolic effects of several xenobiotics. Herein, a systematic review was performed, following PRISMA guidelines, regarding metabolomic studies on synthetic cathinones and synthetic cannabinoids to evaluate their effects in cellular metabolism. In the studies, <i>in vivo</i> models were the most employed (86%) and the analysis mostly followed untargeted approaches (75%) using LC-MS techniques (67%). Both groups of NPSs seem to primarily interfere with energy metabolism-related pathways. Even though this type of study is still limited, metabolomics holds great promise as a tool to clarify mechanisms of actions, identify biomarkers of exposure, and explain the toxicological effects of NPSs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1a78fcab923648d393e7467e6b98869d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1420-3049 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecules |
| spelling | doaj-art-1a78fcab923648d393e7467e6b98869d2025-01-24T13:43:26ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492025-01-0130229010.3390/molecules30020290Uncovering the Metabolic Footprint of New Psychoactive Substances by Metabolomics: A Systematic ReviewAna Sofia Almeida0Paula Guedes de Pinho1Fernando Remião2Carla Fernandes3Laboratório de Química Orgânica e Farmacêutica, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, PortugalUCIBIO-Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, PortugalUCIBIO-Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, PortugalLaboratório de Química Orgânica e Farmacêutica, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, PortugalNew psychoactive substances (NPSs) emerged in the 2000s as legal alternatives to illicit drugs and quickly became a huge public health threat due to their easy accessibility online, limited information, and misleading labels. Synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones are the most reported groups of NPSs. Despite NPSs being widely studied, due to their structural diversity and the constant emergence of novel compounds with unknown properties, the development of new techniques is required to clarify their mode of action and evaluate their toxicological effects. Metabolomics has been a useful tool to evaluate the metabolic effects of several xenobiotics. Herein, a systematic review was performed, following PRISMA guidelines, regarding metabolomic studies on synthetic cathinones and synthetic cannabinoids to evaluate their effects in cellular metabolism. In the studies, <i>in vivo</i> models were the most employed (86%) and the analysis mostly followed untargeted approaches (75%) using LC-MS techniques (67%). Both groups of NPSs seem to primarily interfere with energy metabolism-related pathways. Even though this type of study is still limited, metabolomics holds great promise as a tool to clarify mechanisms of actions, identify biomarkers of exposure, and explain the toxicological effects of NPSs.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/30/2/290metabolomicsnew psychoactive substancessynthetic cannabinoidssynthetic cathinonestoxicity |
| spellingShingle | Ana Sofia Almeida Paula Guedes de Pinho Fernando Remião Carla Fernandes Uncovering the Metabolic Footprint of New Psychoactive Substances by Metabolomics: A Systematic Review Molecules metabolomics new psychoactive substances synthetic cannabinoids synthetic cathinones toxicity |
| title | Uncovering the Metabolic Footprint of New Psychoactive Substances by Metabolomics: A Systematic Review |
| title_full | Uncovering the Metabolic Footprint of New Psychoactive Substances by Metabolomics: A Systematic Review |
| title_fullStr | Uncovering the Metabolic Footprint of New Psychoactive Substances by Metabolomics: A Systematic Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Uncovering the Metabolic Footprint of New Psychoactive Substances by Metabolomics: A Systematic Review |
| title_short | Uncovering the Metabolic Footprint of New Psychoactive Substances by Metabolomics: A Systematic Review |
| title_sort | uncovering the metabolic footprint of new psychoactive substances by metabolomics a systematic review |
| topic | metabolomics new psychoactive substances synthetic cannabinoids synthetic cathinones toxicity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/30/2/290 |
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